Person

Siegel, Ralph Mitchell

1952–2011

2011: Dr. Ralph Mitchell Siegel, a researcher who studied the neurological underpinnings of vision, died Sept. 2 at his home following a long illness. He had been a professor of neuroscience at Rutgers University, Newark, in the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN). As a trained neurophysiologist, Siegel’s work investigated basic mechanisms underlying visual motion and spatial perception, with the ultimate goal of developing applications to assist people who have visual processing disorders and neurological injuries. He performed pioneering work on the brain’s parietal lobe neurons and the influence of eye position and attention on perception. His laboratory was prominent for performing optical imaging of the parietal cortex."